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Nov 14, 2013
This week's theme
Words that are names

This week's words
josh
biddy
harry
mulligan
rube

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

mulligan

PRONUNCIATION:
(MUHL-i-guhn)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A second chance, especially in golf where a player is sometimes given another shot to make up for a poor shot which is not counted.
2. A stew made from odds and ends, using whatever is available.

ETYMOLOGY:
Both senses of the word are from the name Mulligan. It's not certain who these two Mulligans were -- maybe a golf player and a chef. Earliest documented use: 1936.

USAGE:
"It's the Do-Over Derby, in which the only candidates not asking for a mulligan are the ones demanding dozens of them."
Frank Bruni; The Do-Over Derby; The New York Times; Feb 13, 2012.

See more usage examples of mulligan in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love. -Claude Monet, painter (1840-1926)

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